MySpace Developer Platform: Jim Benedetto, MySpace

Web Strategy Summary
MySpace continues to beckon to developers to build widgets and applications on their social networks. They are friendly to industry-wide specs such as OpenSocial and are putting efforts to protect privacy, and uphold security. Despite this welcoming to developers, constraints are set in place to protect the user experience as well as provide incentive for developers to create thriving applications. A balance will need to be found to appease MySpace, Users, Developers, and eventually new marketers. If you’re seeking more on widgets, please visit all posts tagged widgets.

Current Status
Current apps (as of today) are limited to 5 users, and is not full rolled out.

Revenue Opportunities
Developers will be able to create their own self revenue opportunities through canvas pages. The more money the developers can make on their own, or using MySpace’s Hypertargging ad network will be the monetization process.

Raw Notes from Jim’s Presentation below

EcoSystem History

-My Space users have been using applications for years, such as YouTube, Photobucket, slide, and RockYou for over 3 years.
-This provides creative opportunities
-Encourages self-expression
-and offers customization
-Overall, beneficial to users, develops and the MySpace ecosystem as a whole

-Why open social?
-Commitment to Open Standards
-Good for the internet as a whole (users to platforms)
-Portability: developers can spend time building apps, rather than rebuidling every social network
-Leverages other existing web technologies, no need to learn proprietary development languages.
-Also by keeping platforms open give opportunity for a larger eco-system from Users, Developers and Platforms

-Working closely with Google to drive the spec, and are currently supporting Version .6 and will move to .7 soon
-Myspace Specific extensions includes: Bulletins, And additional attributes for bands.

Platform Surfaces

-Profile Surface
-Canvas Surface
-User Homepage Surface: Powerful user specific surface, enables to show specific data to a user that might be relevant on a users profile
-For example: an eBay application that would track your individual bids, would be readily available on homepage.
-For example: or see ‘my’ twitter profiles of my updates, but on my profile page could be visible for everyone
-Summary: This creates a ‘homepage portal’ for users.

Security, Privacy, and Safety

-Have created internal filters and protections (they wont give details) to protect users
-Applications go through safety review process
-Apps will be governed by the same privacy controls that are in place for members
-Apps will never have access to information that cannot be found on any members profile page
-Have 100 employees reviewing code, images, and content being uploaded every day.

Balancing Virility and User Experience.

-Developers are incented to create applications to grow, but creating apps with little levels of utility may not be beneficial to long term eco-system
-Artificial spammy growth is not necessary.
-Initial apps will be able to innitiate the workflow for sending a message on a 1 to 1 basis.